COMMON MISTAKES PEOPLE MAKE UPON BECOMING INJURED THAT MAY LATER HURT THEIR PERSONAL INJURY CASE
One common mistake people make is to delay getting medical treatment, in part because many people are injured and don’t realize it right after the accident. Perhaps they’re upset by the accident and their adrenaline and endorphins are pumping through their system, and those substances, which we produce when are in a flight or a fight state, can mask pain temporarily. Sometimes, an injury is not readily apparent because it’s not a cut, bump or bruise; often, muscles, ligaments and tendons that are stretched and damaged in a car accident, in a slip and fall accident, in just about any accident, but they don’t show up immediately.
Those types of personal injuries are not apparent right away because, although the muscles, ligaments and tendons have been stretched beyond the normal movement, many of the capillaries in the circulatory system are engorged with blood to heal the damage, and it’s not until the person relaxes, perhaps when they go to sleep that night or the next that they begin to feel pain and knots and trigger points in their neck or their back or their legs.
That’s why one of the most common mistakes is in not getting medical care immediately after an accident, even if they’re not hurting at that moment, just to be on the safe side. When they do start to have symptoms, perhaps within a day or two or three of an accident, they delay and think it’s not serious and they’ll get over it in a day or so, and before they know it, it’s been a week or more since the accident when they finally decide to get medical treatment. That will ultimately hurt them physically, but it will also hurt their claim, because the insurance company will claim they were not badly injured.
Another mistake people make after being injured in an accident is to not think about the impact of the injuries on themselves, their life and perhaps their families. They may end up being unable to provide for themselves or their family due to lost work, or they may not take care of themselves medically as they should and they may end up with some type of permanent injury that makes them old before their time.
Failing to speak to a personal injury lawyer immediately
Failing to speak to a personal injury lawyer immediately after an accident is a big mistake because the lawyer can steer their client to the right doctors and therapists as quickly as possible and they can monitor their treatment and suggest ways their client can maximize both their medical treatment and their compensation by being a good patient, which can turn into greater compensation.
Delay in getting medical treatment and delay in seeing a personal injury lawyer are the two biggest mistakes injured people make, but another is to apologize to the other party after an accident because they think they’re being courteous. People talk too much after an accident too often, whether it’s speaking to the other driver after an auto accident or to the store manager after a slip and fall. People get embarrassed when they’re in accidents even if it’s not their fault and, too often, anything they say will be taken out of context and used against them and make them look as if they do not have a claim.